If I had a fortune or two to scatter philannthropically, I would give grants to those who suggest the best way to monitor infants and very small children through toilet training. I believe that, for many people, many life-time traumas develop from this period of their lives. Why?

Think about it. A single region of the human body is the center of

• erotic love;

• reproduction;

• waste disposal.

How can one activity not build up associations that will be evoked, perhaps with unethical consequences, when another activity "acts up"? Especially, when the third activity above is "on the schedule" so many times ago, while the "rarity" of the other two (especially the second) only serves to "stir up" associations when it activates.

Some of the most ascetic proclivities of major religions put controls on the first two activities.

The religion that most disturbs me is GNOSTICISM, and not because its very name claims that its celebrants know more than we non-celebrants. (Ancient gnostics set a verbal trap for us. The word "agnostic" is supposed to mean "atheist", whereas, etymologically, it means "non-gnostic". So, to avoid being considered atheist, we must seem to declare ourselves to be gnostic.) The true gnostic is ashamed of his or her humaness -- comparable to an anti-jewish Jew or anti-black African-American.

Many of the major religions promote occasions of fasting, supposed to promote meditation and allow for extra-giving. But the primary effect is to limit defecation. So ....

Any (free) suggestions?